Sehanine
Sehanine Moonbow, the Goddess of Moonlight, Mystic Seer and Lady of Dreams, is the unaligned goddess of illusion, love and the moon. She is the seasonal god of autumn and patron of wood elves. Description Sehanine appears as a youthful and ageless female elf wearing a diaphanous gown made from moonbeams. In combat she wields Moonshaft, a quarterstaff or bow depending on the Goddesses need. As befits the goddess of mysteries, Sehanine is cloaked in secrets and illusions and rarely speaks her mind directly, preferring to communicate through a process of dreams, visions, and other mystic experiences. The Goddess of Moonlight is a truly spiritual and ephemeral being who evades any attempt to define her. Her serenity surrounds her like a mantle of moondust. Elves, halflings, thieves, and lovers venerate her. Some arcane magic users are also associated with her. She is the chief patron of witches, sears and illusionists, and her daughter, the Lady of the White Well, is a patron of Hexblades and many warlocks. Sehanine urges her followers to seek their own destiny, preferably upon a shadowy path that avoids "the blazing light of zealous good and the utter darkness of evil." Sehanine is the eldest of the three fey gods, the others being Lolth and Corellon. Sehanine supported Corellon in his early battles with Gruumsh, and came to his rescue when Lolth rebelled and attempted to kill him. During the Dawn War, Corellon and Sehanine developed an appreciation of the mortal world and the other planes, and thus accepted worshippers from many other races. Sehanine worked with Melora to create the halflings. Sehanine, along with Pelor, led the charge against Khala when she attempted to elevate herself above the other gods in the War of Winter. Relationships Sehanine is the wife of Corellon and amicable with Pelor and the Raven Queen. She is one of the "Four Free Gods" that also include Avandra, Corellon and Melora. Her foes include Gruumsh, Lolth and Her evil drow, and Asmodeus, for his tyranny prevents people from forging their own paths. Her antithesis is Zehir, whose followers use the night as a time to commit acts of evil. Sehanine would have the night used as a time of refuge and recovery. Realm Sehanine lives in the astral realm of Arvandor with Corellon where she spins webs of illusion around its many splendors. Dogma Sehanine's faithful view life as a series of mysteries veiled by Sehanine herself. The spirits of elves discover new mysteries once they transcend their mortal existences. Sehanine unveils the next step through dreams and visions revealed during the elven reverie. Worshippers of Sehanine revere the moons, feeling their pull in their souls like tides in the ocean. Worshippers of Sehanine Moonbow seek out and destroy undead creatures, for Sehanine holds such creatures to be blasphemous. The only exceptions being baelnorn, elven liches who voluntarily prolong their existence in order to serve their kin. Worshippers Clergy As cloaked in mystery as Sehanine's church is, little is known of its secretive hierarchy. Clerics of Sehanine are mystics and seers, acting as spiritual counselors to those elves and half-elves before they begin journeys in search of transcendence or enlightenment. Clerics of Sehanine also officiate over funerals and guard the material remains of the dead. They weave illusions and cast divinations to guard elven lands and strongholds. When they adventure, it is often with the goal of uncovering lost knowledge of illusions and divinations. Sehanine's clergy favors silvery-white diaphanous gowns for the priestesses, and togas for the priests. They wear silver diadems on their heads, simple sandals, and silver lace sashes on their waists. Adventuring clerics are known for their elven chain mail and mirrored shields. Temples Sehanine's temples are situated so that they are bathed in moon light when it is full, with open ceilings that reveal the night sky. They often adorned with moonstones, silver and surrounded by a garden of night blooming flowers. A wing of the Grand Academy in Ryth known as the Hall of Illusions is is dedicated to the Goddess. Rituals Clerics of Sehanine pray for their spells each night when the moons are fullest. When the time comes for an elf to leave the mortal world and travel to Arvandor, the elven afterlife, the elf will commonly spend several days experiencing vivid waking dreams and reverie. The lens of the elf's eye manifests a milky crescent at this time, the "moonbow" of Sehanine's name. During this time, Sehanine sends the elf a vision of where they must go to reach the otherworld. If the elf dies violently without suffering utter spiritual destruction, Sehanine's priests perform the Ceremony of Recovery for several days, meditating and communing with the goddess and the two worlds. If successful, they channel the lost spirit through Sehanine's grace, enabling it to transcend to Arvandor. During these ceremonies, the moonbow appears in the eyes of the priests, but vanish immediately upon the ceremony's conclusion. Holy Days Sehanine has a wide variety of holy days tied to the positions of the heavenly bodies, particularly the phases of the moons and various eclipses. Many of these holidays occur once per decade, once per century, or even once per millennium, but the most frequent are the Lunar Hallowings, held monthly beneath Luna's full moon. They are marked with personal meditation and a communal trance, and concluded with joyous freeform dance until the break of dawn. Once per year, the faithful gather for the Mystic Rites of the Luminous Cloud, when the participants are transformed into shimmering, silvery light that darts across the heavens, learning sacred mysteries according to their level of spiritual development. Myths and legends Creation of the Elves An elf legend suggests that the elves were created during a battle with Gruumsh. Sehanine's tears mingled with Corellon's blood, forming the first elves.